At the present time, when a part is shaped in a mold, whether this be a part obtained in an injection mold or in a hot forming mold, the mold is cooled, the mold is opened to allow the part to cool, and an ejector is used to eject the part from the mold segment in which this part remains as the mold is opened. The cooling of the mold and, therefore, of the part, needs to be determined in such a way that the part, and possibly also the mold, is/are not damaged during the ejection.
For example, patent DE 198 30 025 describes a mold, a segment of which is provided with cooling passages.
Patents EP 0 941 788, U.S. Pat. No. 2,974,379 and WO 96/22852 describe molding machines equipped with devices that clean the parting lines and the cavities of the molds.
Patent DE 10 2006 057660 describes a molding machine in which such a cleaning device can be used to cool the molded part.
All of the patents mentioned hereinabove relate to the molding of metals, which have a solid/liquid transition temperature and the volume of which reduces sharply when, in the closed mold, they make the transition from the liquid state to the solid state, making removal from the mold easier.
Removal from a mold and, possibly, earlier shaping of parts made of a material that has a glass transition temperature and a melting point higher than its glass transition temperature present real difficulties which cannot be overcome by using molding machines of the prior art above.
Particularly when the parts are made of a metallic glass and are of small size, particularly smaller than one centimeter cubed (cm3), one difficulty stems from the need to obtain rapid cooling in order to prevent the material from crystallizing. Another difficulty stems from the risk of deformation of the part resulting from the effects of the part becoming wedged in the mold and from the forces applied by the ejector, these being due in particular to the difference between the coefficient of expansion of the mold and that of the part and to the fact that the material of which the part is made does not undergo a sharp variation in volume as it cools. Control over the shaping and mold release timing cycles also presents difficulties.